Righting Wrongs in Writing Songs

by Danny Cope

Overview

This book gives both aspiring and seasoned songwriters a powerful new approach to writing songs, focusing on common obstacles in the songwriting process and techniques to help songwriters overcome them. Each chapter goes to the root of a specific songwriting problem and provides exercises to help readers over the hurdles and put their new skills to work. Topics include writing approach, purpose, structure, melodic significance and construction, basic music theory, word meaning, word design and arrangement, chords, and how they are all pieced together. Along the way, a song is created to act as a case study and a demonstration of what each exercise can result in. The lessons are fun, informal, and include fresh suggestions and exercises born out of the author's experience in teaching songwriting at the college level. The book's companion website provides audio clips to accompany the relevant exercises and examples presented in the book.
This book is able to cover all of the major aspects of songwriting while keeping everything entertaining and enlightening. It really doesn't matter what level of a song writer that you are . . . I very highly recommend it."
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer"

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781598637472
Publisher:	Course Technology PTR
Publication date:	01/11/2008
Sold by:	CENGAGE LEARNING
Format:	eBook
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Danny Cope is currently the Course Leader on the BA (Hons) Popular Music Studies degree program at Leeds of College of Music in West Yorkshire, England (the largest specialist Music Conservatoire in the UK). For the past six years, he has lectured in songwriting, song production and popular music performance. He has also worked as a session bass player for the past 12 years. Danny has a publishing contract with Daybreak Music Ltd. in the U.K., has released four solo albums, works as a songwriting consultant to the Open University, and has delivered songwriting seminars around the U.K. In addition to working as a writer, player and educator, he has also written and presented a tutorial DVD entitled 'Everything You Need to Know about Setting Up a Bedroom Studio'.

Table of Contents

Introduction Chapter 1: We Don't Know What We're Trying to Achieve; Chapter 2: We Don't Know Why We Are Writing; Chapter 3: We Don't Present Our Songs as Effectively as Possible; Chapter 4: We're Not Sure What Our Melody Is All About; Chapter 5: Notes Fall Out of Our Heads Without Us Thinking About Them; Chapter 6: Rhythms Fall Out of Our Heads Without Us Thinking About Them; Chapter 7: We're Not Sure What We're Trying to Say; Chapter 8: We Take Too Long to Say Too Little; Chapter 9: We Don't Take Meter and Rhyme Seriously Enough; Chapter 10: We Don't Think About How to Grow a Lyric; Chapter 11: We Don't Think About How We Grow Our Melodic Ideas; Chapter 12: We Write Chords Without Understanding Them; Chapter 13: We Don't Think About How We Use Chords; References